Biography

3 April 1985, Islington, London, England. The winner of the third series of the highly popular UK series, The X Factor, Lewis was widely praised as the first genuine vocal talent to emerge from the much derided reality television format. Lewis, who was born and raised in London, began singing at an early age and made several appearances at live talent shows during her early teens. She attended the prestigious Sylvia Young Theatre School and Brit School, both renowned as breeding grounds for future television stars. At the time of her audition for the third series of The X Factor in 2006, she was working as a receptionist and had recorded an album of her own songs. Mentored throughout the show by Simon Cowell, a shrewd but opinionated judge of talent, Lewis stood out among the usual crowd of mediocre singers as a vocalist of some stature. Her versions of the standard Summertime and Dolly Partons I Will Always Love You were...